Lost Oneshot
by Tejana
Summary: A quick revisit of original charters from my RA series. These are 2nd and 3rd gen characters.


**A/N: This is a oneshot featuring OCs from my Lost series. It was written as a break from my current project and to revisit the characters that lived in my head for so long.**

**I hope readers enjoy revisiting these characters too. As always, I LOVE reviews!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ranger's Apprentice. I do own many broken lamps. No idea why that is.**

Scout held Mara out towards the urn where her mother's ashes were kept. Mara lay her bouquet of dried flowers she'd prepared the day before.

"Will you tell me about Grandma Lina again, Mama?" Mara asked. Scout smiled and kissed her daughter's forehead. This had become a ritual for them. Scout remembered when she was younger and wanted nothing to do with this place, but now she found it comforting. It made it easier to teach her children about Lina, the female warrior who didn't let a crippled foot stop her from fighting for what she believed in, also known as her mother.

Mara always insisted on bringing something to give the grandmother she'd never met. Scout brought Mara to visit the ashes once a month, but today was a special day. It was the anniversary of Lina's death. It marked a gathering that had just sort of formed without any kind of official scheduling or ceremony.

Scout admired her daughter's thoughtfulness. There were times Scout had to step back and just be thankful for all the traces of Lina she saw in Mara. The child had a fondness for horses and spent every moment she could riding. She picked up every language thrown at her with ease. She was hard to read and stubborn.

This visit they weren't alone. Scout's adopted sister Jin stood nearby holding her hands in front of her the Nihon-Ja way. Once Mara was finished arranging the bouquet Scout stepped back. Jin bowed low, as though to an emperor, or these days an empress. It was the ultimate respect Jin could give Lina. Scout felt touched by the gesture.

"Mother Li-na very brave," Jin said quietly. Scout nodded.

"Yes," she agreed. "Very brave. I wish you could have known her."

"I know her," Jin assured her. "You and Sister Cait-lyn, and Father and Mother Talia. You show her to me."

Scout smiled. The Nihon-Ja embraced ancestry more strongly than Hibernians or Araluens.

Caitlyn came running towards them holding a flower she'd probably picked on her way there. She hastily set it next to Mara's bouquet and turned to her sisters.

"I'm sorry I'm late."

"You didn't poison anyone you shouldn't, did you?" Scout asked with a raised eyebrow. When Caitlyn first began her path to becoming a poisons expert it'd been a joke. Two minor, non-life-threatening incidents later it was no longer a joke.

"No," Caitlyn protested. "Well, yes, but that's what happens when a student decides every clear liquid in a poisons lab is just water."

"Caitlyn…" Scout trailed with annoyance.

"He'll be fine. No, I'm late because Tucker's knee is bothering him."

Scout rolled her eyes though she did feel bad for Tucker. Lina had trouble with her foot when it rained. She could sympathize with Tucker's knee. On his particularly bad days Caitlyn would spend hours making him comfortable and ensuring him she didn't think any less of him. Once he bumped something he shouldn't when riding and the healers banished him to a week in bed wearing a brace similar to the one he'd spent over a month in when the injury was fresh. Caitlyn had taken that week off too and stayed in bed with him. She'd been pregnant with their son at the time so it'd probably done her good too, but still. Scout didn't think she could condemn herself to a single room just because Mason was.

"I miss her," Caitlyn said absently as she stared at the memorial.

"In Nihon-Ja we believe our ancestors' spirits watch over us and guide us," Jin told them. "Maybe Mother Li-na watch over us." Jin elbowed Mara. "Especially this one. So much mischief."

Mara squealed with giggles. Scout wanted to tell Jin that Mara actually got that from her but remembered her father always telling her that she got it from her mother. Perhaps Lina was the one behind Mara's pranks and wild curiosity.

Several moments later Talia joined them. Usually Talia let them be for these visits, watching from the shadows and approaching the ashes only after they'd left. Ever since Liam and Talia retired from their jobs in Nihon-Ja and traveled with Jin to Hibernia they tried to let the sisters bond together the way they should. Sometimes Scout felt Talia feared overstepping her bounds as stepmother to her and Caitlyn. Their children adored her though. She was Grandma Talia, the pretty, wise older woman who told them things about Grandma Lina Scout and Caitlyn couldn't. She also taught them life lessons only she had learned harder than anyone else Scout knew about honoring friendships and living with mistakes. The children didn't know the details of how Talia learned those lessons but they seemed to grasp the morals of them.

"I miss her too," Talia said to Caitlyn. Scout wondered how long Talia had been hovering in earshot of the memorial, wondering if it would be acceptable to approach them.

"You join us, Mother Talia?" Jin asked. Talia frowned unsurely and glanced up to Scout and Caitlyn. The sisters both smiled.

"Please," Caitlyn said. "You're our second mother."

The corners of Talia's mouth twitched up into the smallest of smiles. The women sat on the ground. Mara, sensing Talia felt uncomfortable, marched herself over and claimed her lap. Talia smiled and stroked the girl's hair. Talia had been robbed of raising a young child three times. She'd been told Kane was dead upon birthing him and then promptly whisked away to run for her life. She'd struggled with Russ as an infant during a hard time in her life. She hadn't been equipped to be a mother then and Lina's death sealed her inabilities even more. She gave up Russ so that he could have a loving home with two stable parents, a hard decision she'd been forced to make. Now that she was a mother Scout thought it'd been the right decision to make. Kane and Gabby gave Russ more than Talia would have been able to. Too late in life, Talia finally married a man who would be a good husband and father to her children. Jin was no longer a little girl when she entered their family.

"Mama taught me that if I'm not strong enough to handle something I shouldn't force myself to," Caitlyn began. "She taught me that there are different kinds of strength and I'm not built to handle some burdens." Caitlyn faced Scout. "That's why she sent for you when she was dying but specifically ordered me to stay put. She knew I'd be pissed off for awhile but would eventually get over it. She knew you're the leader between us. You would feel empty if you didn't get to say goodbye, but if I'd seen her like that I would forget all the good things about her and remember just that."

Scout closed her eyes as her sister spoke. Seeing her mother die had been hard and at the time she'd been broken by the experience, but Gabby had been there to comfort her and her family built her back up. Lina's death had stung but Scout had been able to move on with her life much quicker than Caitlyn had. Caitlyn had fallen into a whirlwind of confusion and doubt that lasted years after their mother's death and at the time Scout had dismissed it as youthful immaturity. That wasn't the case. Caitlyn just wasn't the type of person who could handle emotionally heavy situations. She belonged in a lab providing for those who had that type of strength.

"Your turn Scout," Caitlyn prompted. Scout opened her eyes again. She turned to look at her daughter in Talia's lap. Mara waited with gleaming eyes for her mother to share a lesson from the grandmother she'd never known. Scout smiled at Mara.

"Mama taught me to recognize what the right thing was and to do it without hesitation," Scout said. "No matter what happens to me in the process, I have to protect those who look to me for protection. She proved that by dying." Scout had to look away from Mara as she continued. Instead she looked to the ground. "She died to protect me and people I loved. A couple of us she didn't even know, but she protected them. When she was injured as well. She went on missions to end suffering for other people. She'd put that part of her life away and she brought it back because she felt compelled to keep history from repeating itself."

Scout told herself she didn't want to go into detail because Mara was there, but really Scout wasn't ready to vocalize those horrible details herself. Her mother had thrown herself into the Hibernian civil war when she could have just as easily escaped to Araluen and lived in peace. Scout hadn't learned the gory truths of that part of her mother's life until coming to Hibernia and hearing them from other people. Lina had a hand in killing truly evil people who she had personal connections to. Lina had every chance to become one of those evil people but resisted. It was a strength Scout strived to obtain. Thankfully she'd never had to prove she had it the way Lina had.

"Talia?" Scout said. She'd have to admit those things at another meeting like this, one where Mara was either absent or older.

"Lina taught me friendship," Talia continued without hesitation. "I had a hard life and when I was grown I only did what I knew. I never considered taking a different path the way Lina did. I felt trapped and didn't fight hard enough to get myself out. Lina, however, did and made a better life for herself. She helped me do the same when I was ready. How to be independent without taking from others, how to pass information to those who desperately needed it without demanding payment of some kind." Talia reached over to stroke Jin's silky black hair. "How to trust that there are people in the world who won't turn on you when they have what they want or a better offer comes by."

"Mother Li-na teach me family is not always by blood," Jin continued with ease. "Mother Li-na make a family for me to come into when I had none."

Scout smiled. Her mother had never met Jin, and her mother lived Jin would have never entered their family. Scout still missed Lina and knew she'd be alright if Liam and Talia had never married since their union came after she was fully grown, but she would have never gotten Jin as a sister. Scout loved Jin the way she loved Caitlyn though they didn't yet have the bond Scout shared with Caitlyn. They were working on that though. Scout also felt thankful Talia was able to make her father happy. When Lina died, Scout had refused to believe her father would remarry. But he needed someone to be his companion. At first he and Talia just worked together, the way they had so many times before when Lina was alive. It'd been a way to honor her memory while still accomplishing goals.

Slowly, oh so slowly, it'd grown to something more. Something very different than what her parents shared together but something honorable and pure. Something strong enough for Scout to recognize as a necessity. Her father had felt guilty about his feelings, as had Talia, but eventually they acted on them. Talia made Liam smile when his daughters weren't around to do it and she took care of him. Scout couldn't imagine her father single again. She couldn't imagine her family without Jin either.

"My turn!" Mara announced as she hopped out of Talia's lap to stand and command attention. Scout raised an eyebrow. Ever since she began bringing Mara to these anniversary gatherings, Mara just listened. She'd never volunteered to speak. Scout hadn't even spoken to her about what to say. Still, if the girl wanted to speak Scout knew there was next to nothing that could stop her. Either she spoke now or she'd get it out later. Many times the 'later' was less convenient than the first.

Mara smiled widely as she made sure everyone was paying attention to her. "Grandma Lina taught me how to dry out flowers and make bouquets. She taught my mama and Mama taught me, so Grandma Lina taught me. See?" Mara pointed up at her little cluster of white wildflowers that grew on the hillside. Scout smiled, remembering when Lina taught her how to make those tiny bouquets and let her go a little wild making too many. Lina had guided her to pass them around to everyone she knew and ultimately took them to the medical wing to give to the patients. Scout had been younger than Mara was now so the memory was vague. She did remember that Kane had volunteered to take her up to make his move on his friend's sister who worked up there as a nurse/maid and discovering for the first that that the girl he'd been admiring from afar was blind.

"Grandma Lina also taught me how to trick my brother into thinking vegetables were better than cake and trading with me."

"Mara, have you been doing that to Hazen?" Scout asked before the girl could think. Mara's smile faded for the briefest moment before spreading back to her ears.

"Maybe."

Scout rolled her eyes as everyone else laughed. "And Hazen's the older one."

"Maybe he lets her get away with it for that reason," Caitlyn said. "You did that for me a few times growing up."

Scout sighed, knowing that wasn't the case. Hazen was too noble to let his sister get away without eating any of her vegetables.

"May I join you ladies?"

They all looked up to see Liam joining them. Scout knew he sometimes spent all night at the memorial. She joined him a couple of times. This was the first time he came up when so many others were there though. He liked to have his time alone.

"Grandpa!" Mara squealed. She jumped over Caitlyn's legs and ran into his arms. He caught her and threw her in the air before catching her. Mara shrieked with delight.

"Father, we share lessons from Mother Li-na," Jin told him. Scout and Caitlyn glanced to each other before staring up at their father. He'd never done something like this to their knowledge and they were curious to hear what he had to say.

Liam set Mara on her feet and went to sit behind Talia. He rested his arm around her torso and kissed her lips smoothly. Mara giggled and looked away, despite seeing her own parents kiss plenty of times. Jin blushed and averted her eyes respectfully, like any good Nihon-Ja girl would do. Scout and Caitlyn, though, didn't bat an eye as the kiss continued. They'd both watched their father cycle through depression in the years after their mother's death.

Liam never kissed Talia the way he'd kissed Lina. Lina had never desperately needed him to validate his love for her or even to remind her that he still loved her. She'd picked those messages up in the little things, when he helped her onto her horse or made her dinner. When he got up with their daughters in the middle of the night. When he rubbed her twisted foot on days it pained her so badly she could barely get out of bed.

Talia was different though. Talia didn't care if he made dinner or not. She'd take offence if he tried to help her onto her horse, as though it were an insult to her independence. She needed to be independent and do those sort of things for herself. Liam had learned all those things going on missions with her after Lina's death. What Talia needed was affection. Proper affection that came without a price attached. Kane's father had violated her core being in the worst way when she was too young and too cold to understand there was a different way of doing things. Russ's father had played her like a fiddle and left her feeling lower than garbage to rot alone.

Liam just loved her. He kissed her when he woke and then again when she woke, because she slept later than him. He embraced her every time they met regardless of how long or how little time they'd spent apart. When they were in a crowd he made sure they were always touching, even if it was just by a brush of the arm, so she'd feel safe. He held her until she fell asleep every night and when she had a nightmare of some other man he rubbed her back until she cried herself back to sleep without question.

"Lina taught me that love can fix anything that is broken," he said softly once he and Talia broke away. Talia stared at him with her beautiful eyes that had ensnared so many lustful desires. They'd never had that effect on Liam, not even as a hormonal teenager. It'd taken him a long time to see what Lina had seen all along in Talia. Beneath the hard shell and shattered heart was a woman worth caring about. He knew all about hard shells and shattered hearts. Talia had just displayed hers more openly than he ever did. Lina had put him back together without him realizing it. Now that Lina was gone he appreciated just how much she'd built him. It was from Lina he learned how to become what Talia needed, and if it took the rest of his days he'd put her back together.

Piece by piece.

Scout stood up and touched her mother's name in the stone. "Thank you Mama," she said. She reached out for Mara's hand. "Come on, Mara."

"Thank you Grandma Lina," Mara chimed as Scout led her back towards the castle.

Caitlyn stood. "Thanks Mama," she whispered quickly before jogging to catch up with her older sister. She stopped halfway and turned back. "Hurry up, Jin!"

Jin scrambled to her feet and bowed deeply a second time. "Thank you Mother Amarante," she said in Nihon-Ja, using the name Emperor Shigeru had given Lina so long ago. She hurried to catch up with her sisters. Liam and Talia stood and brushed themselves off. They watched as their three girls hurried back towards the castle with their young granddaughter leading the way. Once they were out of sight the couple turned back to the memorial.

Talia wrapped her arms around Liam's waist and he put one of his arms around her shoulders. This was where Liam needed Talia to strengthen him. The loss of his first wife still cut him deep, as though she'd died yesterday instead of years ago.

"I miss you Lina," Liam managed to say. "You'd be proud of the girls."

"She would," Talia assured him. "I know she would."

Liam took a deep breath and let a tear roll down his cheek. Talia reached up to wipe the streak it left away from his face.

"Those girls are waiting," she reminded him. "So are the boys."

Liam groaned. "Ugh, the boys."

'The boys' included Scout and Caitlyn's sons, Hazen and Vance, but also their husbands. Mason and Tucker were both good men who treated his daughters and grandchildren well but he still felt obligated to have the smallest twinge of disapproval for them. After all, neither was perfect and his Liam's mind his daughters deserved nothing short of perfection.

"What will we do when Jin marries Russ?" Talia asked as they started the walk back to the Roscrea Castle.

"I think a better question is what will you do?" Liam teased her. He brushed a loose strand of hair away from her face as she frowned.

"He was only my son for a little while."

"Do you think you'll love our grandchildren out of them differently than you love our grandchildren from Scout and Caitlyn?" Liam asked.

Talia thought about it for several moments. "I'd like for them to have a girl," she said softly. "Just to see that a different life could come for a girl with my blood."

"Time will tell," Liam assured her as he kissed her forehead. "I promise none of us will let what happened to you happen to any daughter in this family again."

Talia nodded. Liam almost felt the chill go down her spine as she remembered dark secrets from her past she refused to share even with him. He kissed her again.

"That's not part of your life anymore."

"I know." Talia stopped walking. She wrapped her arms around his neck. He rested his hands on her hips. "You're my life now. You don't do those things."

Liam kissed her yet again, this time as gently as he could He'd never had to worry about being gentle with Lina. With Talia he had to. Too many had hurt her for him to be forceful in any way.

"I love you Talia," he assured her. "I'm going to protect you for the rest of your life."

Talia smiled. "I know. I wish I could promise the same for you."

That had been her fear their entire marriage. That she'd relapse to her old ways without realizing. That she'd be too weak to resist. Liam brushed his lips against her ear.

"You're stronger than you think."

This time Talia kissed him. "I'm glad you think so."

Liam looked back to Lina's memorial. "I know you're strong because she knew you were strong."

Talia lay her head on Liam's chest as she looked back too. "She didn't deserve to go the way she did."

"No. She put herself in a dangerous place to protect others. It's what she always did."

Talia began walking again. "I wonder if she knew the impact she had on us. All of us."

Liam shook his head. "No. She had no idea. I think that's one of the reasons I admired her so much. She just did what was right as though it were as natural as breathing. She would realize how many lives she saved but never the imprint she left on those lives."

"I'm glad to have known her."

"Me too."


End file.
